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JUE insight: Differences in rent growth by income from 1985 to 2021 and implications for inflation

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  • Molloy, Raven

Abstract

Shelter is a large share of household expenditures and therefore has a large weight in inflation measurement. Because rich and poor households tend to make different housing and location choices, does the shelter component of inflation differ across the income distribution? I calculate rent growth for households in each quintile of the income distribution from 1985 to 2021 and find modestly lower rent growth for lower-income groups. However, because lower-income households spend a larger fraction of total expenditures on housing, I find little difference across groups in headline inflation. Therefore, different housing and location choices have not generated materially different shelter components of inflation across the income distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Molloy, Raven, 2024. "JUE insight: Differences in rent growth by income from 1985 to 2021 and implications for inflation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:142:y:2024:i:c:s0094119024000391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2024.103669
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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